Lake Wales Ministry Reaches Out to Women in Need

Friday

Jun 28, 2013 at 6:03 PM

The Reeds run Women's House of Refuge — womenshouseofrefuge.org — a non-profit organization "for the broken woman."

By PHIL ATTINGERLEDGER MEDIA GROUP

LAKE WALES | Inside a former auto-repair shop at 114 Lincoln Ave., a slow cooker wafts the aroma of grits into the room.Gas burners under the outdoor awning warm the rest of breakfast — sausage, pork chops, wings, bacon, eggs and toast on the side.Julia Reed, 57, said she has $3 or $5 breakfast plates that anyone can buy, whether or not they shop at her thrift store.People who eat there five times can buy a breakfast for half price, said her husband, Ernest, 72.It's just another way her store — open seven months — brings in money for her ministry.The Reeds run Women's House of Refuge — womens­houseofrefuge.org — a non-profit organization "for the broken woman."They started it in Jacksonville shortly after they met and married more than 17 years ago, but now they've moved it to Lake Wales, her home­town.Today they plan an all-day neighborhood get-together with free food and entertainment, followed by a "youth celebration" Sunday."I told my husband I was led to come here. I didn't feel it (at first). Eventually God brought my heart so I was wanting to come here," Reed said.She wants to help women rebuild their lives the way she rebuilt hers.She said she has found people struggling in Lake Wales with a mindset of "can't do any better."Polk County doesn't have many jobs, Ernest Reed added.And with "nothing to do," people get into trouble, Julia Reed said.Lack of jobs has made it harder for the couple to support the ministry the way they did in Jacksonville, she said."This transition has stretched our faith — unbelievably so," Reed said.Born in Frostproof and raised in Lake Wales by her mother, Helen Brinson-Jones, Reed left in the 1980s and lived in Fort Pierce for a time.Although she didn't go into detail personally, her website says she started smoking drugs in 1982 and was raped and beaten, but eventually "God saved my life and allowed me to go to prison."The site said courts sent her in 1991 to a restitution center in Jacksonville.She was released after seven months, chose a church home and was called on Mother's Day 1997 to minister to women at the Montgomery Correctional Institution in Jacksonville, the site said.Ordained June 6, 2004, she and Ernest Reed had a 17-room facility in Jacksonville with living and dining areas, a back porch and three bathrooms.The Reeds lived upstairs; the women stayed downstairs, each in her own room."The Lord told me not to double up, (to) let them know they are special," Reed said.They had cable, phones and Internet to help them get informed and get jobs, she said.She would like to do the same here for any woman who needs a lift and expand her store in Lake Wales to provide the same kind of help."I will show love no matter who you are, because God is love. It's not my job to judge a person. It's my job to love on them," Reed said."If I love them and show them what Jesus taught us to show, then maybe they'll be interested in my Jesus," she added.Reed is looking for monetary and material donations and volunteers to help run her store.The weekend events are open to the public. Reed's phone number is 904-422-6545.

[ Phil Attinger covers the Babson Park, Dundee, Frostproof and Lake Wales areas. He can be contacted at phil.attinger@ newschief.com and 863-401-6981, and followed on Twitter at @PhilAttinger. ]